Peter, in your discussion of the Media you have pretty much described that which has happened in Wales (and the UK). In Wales, the creation of a dedicated Welsh-language television channel was, arguably and paradoxically, a real blow for Welsh traditional music. Rather than strike its own path, it felt that it had to prove itself on the international stage and adopt global norms and goals. (There was a time when I would have called these, 'American cultural' norms but I think Global Corporations have even left the USA behind) When your norms and goals are global, your career paths are defined by something other than your indigenous culture.

I was involved in a European project a few years ago which brought together people from traditional music in 5 European nations. I remember one representative, from ... Sardinia, I think ... saying that their music had next to no air-time even on local channels, and on the odd occasion when they did appear, they were almost inevitably sat on a bale of hay.

There's been some very good work done on explaining the mis-fit between rural and urban life and values at Concordia (New Rural Economics project) and I think a lot of the overriding findings work in music as well as the general economy.

I'm not sure if this counts as thread drift. I think the Media's attitude to rurality, including music, is probably a big factor in how Canadian music has evolved but I also think it's had that effect in most other (western?) countries as well.

sian